The Secret World isn’t going to back off from its bold content plans, Funcom boss Ragnar Tørnquist has said.

“The Secret World has a bright future ahead of it and the team remains dedicated to delivering monthly content updates,” Tørnquist wrote in the latest state of the game post.

Tørnquist said that despite the fierce competition from “warring guilds to kung-fu-fighting pandas”, he still believes The Secret World has something unique to offer which other MMOs can’t claim.

“And that’s why we’re not about to change. We’re not going to play it safe. We won’t be introducing classes or levels, elves or centaurs, and regardless of the competition, we won’t back down from our original vision,” he said.

“We’re going to keep doing what we’re good at. We’ll continue to push the boundaries, and we’ll keep reinventing the wheel (quite literally). Five years ago, we set out to revolutionise the genre, and the revolution has just begun.

“The Secret World is actually unique and different, and even if our players go off to dabble in a bit of high fantasy, we’ll still be here when they come back, doing what we’ve been doing since launch, offering a deeper and more complex experience, a game that’s truly original, mature and challenging. A game for gamers.”

Funcom has two main development goals, Tørnquist said – to provide current players with new content, features and gameplay, and to reach out to new players. The first goal will be achieved by continuing with monthly content updates, as well as responding to critique and feedback.

In terms of upcoming content, the third issue will be about Hallowe’en and cats, and a ten-person raid will be added to New York in October, which is “not like any raid you’ve ever played before”.

More weapons and character customisations are coming, as well as a “huge and exciting” new feature which will tie into achievements somehow – which Tørnquiost seems to hint may mean players can gain abilities from specialising in killing particular enemy types.

“We’re creating intermediary decks with brand new clothing rewards; we have a ton of new missions and storylines in development; and we have a huge new adventure zone scheduled for next spring, bringing players back to Tokyo’s Ground Zero, to face brand new threats, meet new characters, play new missions and explore an intriguing urban environment unlike anything you’ve ever seen in an MMO,” the developer concluded.

“And that’s only some of the cool content we have in the pipeline. The Secret World is far from done: in fact, we’re just getting started.”